Comparison of welding simulations in Abaqus and Simufact Welding : a case study with a moving heat source

Abstract

The following thesis examines the comparison of welding simulations performed in Abaqus and Simufact Welding using a bead-on-plate case study on a thin plate made of structural steel. The simulations use a moving Goldak, double-ellipsoid heat source. In particular, the research is focused on identifying the main differences in welding-induced temperature field, residual stresses and distortions in the performed simulations, also considering user experience and computational efficiency of both software. In this work, the following research methods were applied: literature review, case study and numerical, finite element analysis, including the DFLUX subroutine implementation in Abaqus. Then, the results obtained from thermal and mechanical simulation analyses were compared between Abaqus and Simufact Welding, indicating the importance of user expertise, model setup and input parameters. Thus, the features influencing the software selection were derived as engineering application, available expertise, required control and result accuracy. This thesis addresses the lack of research regarding comparison of welding simulations in dedicated software, as well as creates a base for the future research under different and more complex case studies and welding-induced phenomena.